Nitro Drivers thoughts, short track

quikss · Jul 11, 2008

69malibu3speed said:
If your thinking had been prevalent from the beginning of racing drivers and crew members and spectators would be dying by the dozens today...and racing probably would have been outlawed. What a leap to go from common sense changes to make the sport even safer to "let's ban racing". Was Eric Medlins death a random chance also? Force claims the improvements in safety made after his crash saved his life in the worse crash of his career. The top fuel driver who died last year, whose name I can't remember, caused changes in the top fuel cars, one of which was a steel plate behind the drivers head. Could a TF driver die from something else, of course they could, but I don't believe I am capable of understanding the reasoning that says we don't need to do anything to make the sport safer. Dale Earnhardt and Adam Pettys deaths made NASCAR a lot safer for the Nascar drivers....is that a bad thing?

If a tire blows up and kills someone at the starting line they will probably make the people standing around nearby move back a bit...........would something be wrong with that too? Nascar pit crews now wear helmets, they didn't used to until a few got their heads cracked open....should we have just blown that off and waited for the next guy to spill his brains on the pavement?

I don't know if Scott K. was knocked out or not, but an extremely short sand pit with a brick wall at the end sure looks like something worthy of some thought on how to make it safer. They are already talking to the parachute manufacturer about different materials and ways of opening the chutes to improve that part of the equation.

I'm glad your advice of "people die, we're safe enough" is being ignored, it deserves to be.

Yes and perhaps we can make all regular traffic go 2 1/2 mph also as people die doing that too. Looks like seat belts just aren't cutting it anymore as people are still dying, time to slow traffic right down to a crawl and then maybe nobody will die anymore. Perhaps we can all walk around with huge pillows strapped to us, so we are all protected form everything that could potentially hurt us. Oh oh, a guy was killed while deer hunting, guess we better take away the guns and just use knives now, oh wait, knives hurt too, guess we should just use snares now.

People die doing anything and everything. You will never stop it, you have no chance of stopping it. Making the cars safer is one thing, just throwing stupid ideas out there is a whole diffrent deal. If NHRA truely wanted to make the cars safer, they would put some research in to it instead of just winging off the cuff ideas out there. This is all an emotional solution, not a logical solution. If the cars were going 30 mph slower, would scott Kalitta still be alive? Not in my opinion. So what good will this then do?

Jeff

dyno jonn · Jul 11, 2008

69malibu3speed said:
I don't know if Scott K. was knocked out or not, but an extremely short sand pit with a brick wall at the end sure looks like something worthy of some thought on how to make it safer. They are already talking to the parachute manufacturer about different materials and ways of opening the chutes to improve that part of the equation.

Yes, Nomex or other fire proof materials could be used for chute material to keep them from burning off, but the chutes didn't burn off. Some of the racing newspapers have pictures of them dragging, not burning, and of the remains of the car "skipping" across the sand trap. Once the body blew off, there was no longer any appreciable downforce on the chassis. Other pictures and opinions of what happened, or didn't happen, are available in the real racing news journals also. Luckily the New Jersey State Police were on the scene and will do a full investigation. NHRA will not be the only story that will be heard on this one, luckily.....

69malibu3speed · Jul 11, 2008

quikss said:
Yes and perhaps we can make all regular traffic go 2 1/2 mph also as people die doing that too. Looks like seat belts just aren't cutting it anymore as people are still dying, time to slow traffic right down to a crawl and then maybe nobody will die anymore. Perhaps we can all walk around with huge pillows strapped to us, so we are all protected form everything that could potentially hurt us. Oh oh, a guy was killed while deer hunting, guess we better take away the guns and just use knives now, oh wait, knives hurt too, guess we should just use snares now.

People die doing anything and everything. You will never stop it, you have no chance of stopping it. Making the cars safer is one thing, just throwing stupid ideas out there is a whole diffrent deal. If NHRA truely wanted to make the cars safer, they would put some research in to it instead of just winging off the cuff ideas out there. This is all an emotional solution, not a logical solution. If the cars were going 30 mph slower, would scott Kalitta still be alive? Not in my opinion. So what good will this then do?

Jeff

Being silly is not a good rebuttal, ya' know?

There will be "research" going in toward the final solution. John Force Racing, Ford, Castroil and others are part of the "safety center" built in Indianapolos, IN. John Medlen, who up until recently had his shop in my hometown, and lived about a mile from me, will head up the efforts to make racing safer. It was his son who died, Force who was badly injured and Force's daughter who is now driving a funny car. These folks are unlikely to agree that "people die" and blow off Kallita's accident as something from which nothing can be learned or done to improve safety.

mmurphy77 · Jul 11, 2008

I just read today some of Hot Rod Fuller's comments on the 1000' change and he says he's totally against it, called it a "knee-jerk reaction" and hopes it's just temporary. Me too!

1966_L78 · Jul 11, 2008

quikss said:
Yes and perhaps we can make all regular traffic go 2 1/2 mph also as people die doing that too... People die doing anything and everything. You will never stop it, you have no chance of stopping it. Making the cars safer is one thing, just throwing stupid ideas out there is a whole diffrent deal. If NHRA truely wanted to make the cars safer, they would put some research in to it instead of just winging off the cuff ideas out there. This is all an emotional solution, not a logical solution.[/quoke]

This "rule change" doesn't mean Fuel cars can't go the full 1/4 mile, just at the "Sanctioned events" there not allowed to... Heck, they drivers could go 1/2 mile if they want (just as ridiculous as "traffic going 2-1/2 mph").

Sure, it was somewhat "knee-jerk", but not completely... A truly knee-jerk reaction would have been to cancel the rest of the season or at least the next few races until the figured something out, but they didn't... People say they need to research what needs to be done to make the cars safer, but that takes time. There has been a problem with the fuel cars exploding before the finish line (more common that anywhere else on the track?)

I still go back to where the teams helped make the decision on what to do, Even if they didn't all agree. Some was for safety reasons, but I am sure the teams also used it as a way to save money, by shutting off the cars sooner... Sure, the teams could pull out all together, but they want to race, and frankly, they are in business to make money. 1000 ft or 1320 ft, the sponsorship $ will probabaly NOT change, but the cost of your operation has been drastically reduced...

Who knows, maybe it was also a back-door effort to save fuel because of the impending Nitro shortage. Or another savings to reduce the ammount of fuel the teams need to buy...

quikss said:

If the cars were going 30 mph slower, would scott Kalitta still be alive? Not in my opinion. So what good will this then do?

Click to expand...

In the case of Scott, I don't think speed or the length of the track mattered (within reason), if appears that the car wasn't slowing down. I get the feeling that Scott was unable to apply the brakes and the chutes weren't working...

On the shorter tracks, lots of cars go into the sand; maybe chute problems or??... So I don't think the real reason was due to the cars speeds OR the tracks really being too short... IMO, the real reason is to reduce the cars that were exploding, which could cause a catastrophic events (fatalities as well as event delays due to oil-downs), events that the NHRA and the owners probably don't want...

dyno jonn · Jul 12, 2008

1966_L78 said:
Who knows, maybe it was also a back-door effort to save fuel because of the impending Nitro shortage. Or another savings to reduce the amount of fuel the teams need to buy...

The rumoured "nitro shortage" is another touchy subject (not meaning to hijack anyones thread), but there is no real shortage. It's just that the wrong person has a corner on a lot of the available fuel, and he is not on NHRA's sponser list. O.k. back to the original discussion.....

Bowtie-72 · Jul 12, 2008

I'm not opposed to the shortening of the track. The distance is just a measurement anyway. If it's 1/8, 1000ft or 1/4 mile, it's still a common distance that they all will be racing to and as long as everyone understands it, that's OK. As for being safer, like posted, it's a fraction of a second, and at the current speeds, it's still only 320' more room which will be covered in how long???

I realy feel sorry for all the young kids who will think a mile is only 4000 feet long.

chevelledude71 · Jul 13, 2008

Watched the qualifying tonight and the drivers and crew chiefs that were interviewed liked the idea. So, I guess I will too, not that I could do anything about it anyway.

8sec71 · Jul 13, 2008

chevelledude71 said:
Watched the qualifying tonight and the drivers and crew chiefs that were interviewed liked the idea. So, I guess I will too, not that I could do anything about it anyway.

IMO...I think some of the guys that "say" they like/agree with the 1000' thing are just sugar coating it to keep us (the fans) in good spirits.

I mean if everyone was #!&%*ing about it, then that would bring the fans down about it too. Again, JMO.

Nitro Drivers thoughts, short track

quikss

dyno jonn

69malibu3speed

mmurphy77

1966_L78

dyno jonn

Bowtie-72

chevelledude71

8sec71

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